Ministry of Education
Shri Dharmendra Pradhan addresses the 29th Convocation of GIPE and inaugurates Symbiosis Ishanya Bhavan in Symbiosis International University, Pune
Shri Pradhan urges students to increase competencies to be ready for future challenges
Think big and move ahead with a vision of fulfilling society’s aspirations as well as global responsibilities - Shri Dharmendra Pradhan
Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan addressed the 29th Convocation of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics  as Chief Guest in Pune today. The Minister of Higher & Technical Education of Maharashtra, Shri Chandrakant Patil; Vice Chancellor of GIPE, Dr. Ajit Ranade; other dignitaries, educationalists, professors and students were also present at the event.
While speaking at the convocation, Shri Pradhan congratulated the students who received their degrees and encouraged them to emphasise on building competencies and life skills. GIPE is a melting pot of ideas and has been a hub of experiential learning, he added.
He mentioned India is going to be the most happening place in the next twenty-five years because of the country’s talented Yuva Shakti. He urged them to think big and move ahead with a vision of fulfilling society’s aspirations as well as global responsibilities.
The twenty-first century is going to be a knowledge-based society where the primary source for development, growth, economies, and society will be knowledge, he stated. Indians have now global responsibilities and their visions and actions should be directed towards the entire world, he emphasized.
Shri Pradhan highlighted the important contributions of the institute during the drafting of the Constitution of India as well as several significant policy decisions post-independence, including some on economic research on agriculture, education, price of agricultural commodities, family planning, banking, and cooperative movement that were made here.
Later in the day, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan attended the Vidyarthi Samman Samaroh at the Savitribai Phule University, Pune. While speaking at the programme Shri Pradhan emphasized the importance of the city of Pune. He mentioned how the city has played a leading role in showing the direction of Indian civilization and Savitribai Phule Pune University has been one of the epicentres of it. Today emerging economies have a lot of expectations from India-led models and Pune has the potential to meet these expectations, he added.
He stressed Pune’s contribution to several significant areas including research on education, policy decisions, academia, incorporation of the idea of welfare-centric governance and women-led development, scientific research and more.
He also mentioned the significant suggestions made by renowned Professor of Global Environmental Health, Kirk R Smith, who worked for some time in Pune. His suggestions for LPG subsidies to the economically weaker sections of society led to the inception of the Ujjwala scheme, Shri Pradhan mentioned.
Shri Pradhan inaugurated the Symbiosis Ishanya Bhavan in the Symbiosis International University, Pune.
Eminent dignitaries from various fields were felicitated in today’s programme including Dr. Pramod Chaudhari of Praj Industries; Chancellor, Symbiosis International , Prof. Dr. S.B. Mujumdar; renowned orthopaedic surgeon Dr. K.H. Sancheti; Kathak exponent, Smt. Shama Bhate; and renowned author Smt. Aruna Dhere.